The synthesis of high temperature superconducting (HTS) devices such as HTS tapes involves many challenges including the need to form a complex stack of materials that constitute the HTS tape. In a conventional superconductor tape a superconductor layer is supported by a base layer that may be a steel material. A shunt metal layer or layers is formed on top of the superconductor layer on a side opposite the base layer to provide a current conduction path when a fault occurs. When a fault takes place in an SCFCL, due to the finite resistance acquired by the superconducting layer, current that is conducted almost exclusively through the superconductor layer under normal operation of the SCFCL is diverted into metallic layers that are in contact with the superconductor layer, which layers typically present lower resistance than the now-resistive superconductor layer. The current passing through the metallic layers during the fault condition may cause resistive heating that generates temperatures up to 200° C. or more in the HTS tape. As a result of high temperatures, roughening of metal surfaces as well as oxidation may take place in local spots or at a metal layer interface, leading to degradation of the metallic layers and reducing the lifetime of the HTS tape.
On the other hand, in order to affect a significant voltage drop along the length of the superconductor tape, it may be desirable to increase the sheet resistance of the metallic layers in the HTS tape. Although this could in principle be accomplished by decreasing the thickness of a metal layer such as silver, the reduced thickness may lead to increased susceptibility to agglomeration or other degradation that may shorten the HTS tape lifetime. Accordingly, tailoring of properties of shunt metal layers in superconductor tapes in order to increase robustness may be desirable. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present improvements are needed.